Counterfeit Christians
A.W. Tozer warns of the dangers of counterfeit Christianity, emphasizing the need for a genuine, sound conversion that results in a life guided by the Holy Spirit.
The preacher delves into the significance of the term 'Savior' (soter) in the Bible, highlighting its use in secular Greek culture, the Old Testament, and the New Testament. The term was applied to deities, rulers, and men who brought benefits to their people, but ultimately finds its true meaning in God as the source of salvation and Jesus Christ as the agent of deliverance for sinful mankind. The sermon emphasizes the unique role of Jesus as the Savior of the world, contrasting the Roman emperor's title as 'Savior' with the spiritual salvation offered by Christ.
Text
. . . If we compare what we ought to be and could be with what we are, and we don't see that we are in a rut and we are not concerned, then one of three things may be wrong. First, we may not be converted at all. I am convinced that many evangelicals are not truly and soundly converted. Among the evangelicals it is entirely possible to come into membership, to ooze in by osmosis, to leak through the cells of the church and never know what it means to be born of the Spirit and washed in the blood. A great deal that passes for the deeper life is nothing more or less than basic Christianity.
There is nothing deeper about it, and it is where we should have been from the start.
We should have been happy, joyous, victorious Christians walking in the Holy Spirit and not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. Instead we have been chasing each other around the perpetual mountain. What we need is what the old Methodists called a sound conversion. There is a difference between conversion and a sound conversion. People who have never been soundly converted do not have the Spirit to enlighten them. When they read the Sermon on the Mount or the teaching passages of the epistles that tell them how to live or the doctrinal passages that tell how they can live, they are unaffected. The Spirit who wrote them is not witnessing in their hearts because they have not been born of the Spirit.
That often happens.
Sermon Outline
- The Problem of Counterfeit Christians
- The Need for Sound Conversion
- The Consequences of Unsound Conversion
- Lack of Spiritual Enlightenment
- Unaffected by Scripture
- No Witness of the Spirit
Key Quotes
“A great deal that passes for the deeper life is nothing more or less than basic Christianity.” — A.W. Tozer
“We should have been happy, joyous, victorious Christians walking in the Holy Spirit and not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh.” — A.W. Tozer
“When they read the Sermon on the Mount or the teaching passages of the epistles that tell them how to live or the doctrinal passages that tell how they can live, they are unaffected.” — A.W. Tozer
Application Points
- We must examine our own lives to determine whether we have experienced a genuine, sound conversion.
- A life without the Holy Spirit is a life without true spiritual growth and victory.
- We should strive for a deeper, more genuine walk with God that results in joy, victory, and obedience.